So, if you haven't figure it out, I'm really bad at blogging. In fact, my future brother in law, Todd, spurred this post by telling me I needed to update my blog...oops.

Sometimes I have things on my mind that I want to talk about, but by the time I sit down and get ready to type, it's gone. Anyway, this week I just wanted to let you know that I've been snagging some GREAT clearance items at Target (Poplar and 240) in the past few weeks. If you've clipped any of the coupons for Crest or Colgate that have been in the paper lately, this particular Target has those two brands on clearance for $1.24. I had several $1.00 off coupons, so I stocked up on toothpaste for just .24 cents a tube! I was also able to get some Febreeze clearance items as well, for as little as a $1.00 (and who doesn't love Febreeze?) I'm posting a few of this weeks deal at Target in hopes that some of you can score some really great stuff as well!

Happy Shopping!

Jumbo Avocados $.99 each

Roma Tomatoes $1.99/lb

Raspberries 6oz. $1.99

Dole Classic Romaine, 9oz $1.99 (or .99 cents if you have the coupon from the super saver that was in the mail a few weeks ago!)

Small Lemons or Limes $.25 each

Large oranges or large red grapefruit $0.69 each

Betty Crocker muffin mix $2.00(03/28 SS) save $1.00/2Final Price, $1.50 each

Betty Crocker Cake mix $1.69 (03/28 SS) save $1.00/2 Final Price $1.38 each

Bertolli frozen meals $5.89Get $5 Gift Care wyb 4

Also, for all you men out there that have wives who are also Mother's, don't forget to buy them something great for Mother's Day. If you have a wife, that is not yet a Mom, don't forget to hug her a little tighter that day too!

But I just wanted to be a "pew sitter"

So, the picture above is from the Christmas music at church this past year. It's our "cardboard testimony" and if you don't know what that is, look up cardboard testimonies on YouTube, turn your music up, get your tissue out and worship! I just wanted to use this picture to show how God has worked in my life over the past 4 1/2 years. This morning as we were waiting for our "Sunday Lunch Crew" to get their kids and meet us, I had several people stop to talk to me. By the time we got in the car both Donnie and I were laughing about how at one time I wanted to be an anonymous person in the crowd at church, and how instead, we've met so many people, that it's hard to walk down a hall without someone stopping you just to talk!

Here's the story... You see, I grew up at Ridgeway Baptist Church. First baby to be dedicated on that campus actually, so to say most everyone knew me is a big understatement. I was in GA's, children's choir, youth choir, adult choir, worked in the nursery, ran children's church, very active in the youth group, on youth council, tons of people from the church came to our wedding because they "felt like family" get the picture? So, everything I knew about church was to get involved. In my lifetime my dad was the chairman of deacons, my grandfather was on the pastor search committee, my dad was on a pastor search committee, my mom taught Sunday School, as did her dad, my Nana was very active in WMU, and my Mimi ran the pre-school...everyone worked in Vacation Bible School, summer safari was a way of life for our family, and sometimes we even came up to church on the weekends when dad was church treasurer... see, active? So I just thought that was how church was supposed to be....honestly, I did. So, after Donnie and I got married and my home church went through some changes, we decided to start visiting other churches. It was with a heavy heart, and much emotion that I called to tell my family that after many visits, we felt "at home" at Germantown Baptist Church. I knew my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles probably secretly wanted us not to find anywhere we liked and come "home" to RBC, but for whatever reason (GOD) GBC was where we felt we worshiped the best.

I can remember the months we visited before actually joining. We would come in and attend worship, listen to the preaching and then leave. One particular Sunday on the way out to the car I even made the comment "this is so great to be anonymous in a church!" I knew that no one really knew me, I wasn't "Ray and Carolyn's daughter", I wasn't "Vadine and Raymond or Ace and Demetra's granddaughter," I wasn't "Amy and Emily's big sister," heck, at that point no one even know we were the Blairs, or Don and Kim, so I knew I wouldn't be asked to do anything, and I thought that in and of itself, was awesome! So Donnie and I continued to visit, and after a few months decided to join the church. When we went to the counseling room, the guy counseling us asked if we were involved in a Sunday School class. I remember saying no, and then rambling about Donnie traveling, etc., but that was about it. So for the next few months we continued to go to church, still slightly anonymous (some people I went to Briarcrest with went to that church, and as Donnie says I can't go anywhere without knowing someone) and it felt great...kind of. I felt like something was missing. Maybe it was the intimacy of learning God's word in a smaller group. Maybe it was the friendship developed with other couples in your season of life. Maybe it was that I was not doing what God asks of us, whatever it was, it made me feel empty inside. So, one Sunday as we sat worshipping, the nursery coordinator paraded some kids on stage and said that they didn't have a teacher, and that they would have to sit on stage the rest of the service. Of course this was a ploy, but it sure pulled at my heartstrings, and before I knew it I signed up to be a teacher in the 18 month old class. First I taught during the Sunday school hour by myself, but after a few weeks, Donnie decided he might want to teach with me. We met some great kids, who had wonderful parents! Little by little those parents started inviting us to do stuff with their class. They told me about a Wednesday night Bible Study they had, and how I was more than welcome to come. So, off I went to meet these "new girls." Week after week my friendships with them deepened, and while I got to know them better, their husbands started inviting Donnie to stuff with all the men. Before we knew it we were fully immersed with this group, and were loving every minute of it! The next "semester" we decided not to teach anymore, but instead to go to the Sunday school class. The first Sunday we got to church to go to Sunday school, we went right to the Carney class. These are the people whose children we had been watching for a year, so it just seemed right!

Fast forward to 2010. We've been in this same class for the past 4 years. Those parents have become our friends, and our life as "pew sitters" ended oh, about 4 years ago. Since then we have both joined the choir (picture above), continued to work with the nursery crew as needed, become the social "chairpeople" for our class, I'm on the First Impressions committee, and about to co-lead a bible study this summer. Donnie had the opportunity to lead a guitar group on Wednesday night, and to get involved in some of the men's ministry stuff. I guess sometimes God has to just thump you on the back of the head and say "I did not command you to be a "pew sitter" but to continually work to grow My kingdom!" The best part of our experience is getting to grow friendships and relationships with such neat people! There are no words to describe the love I have for those "parents" who to us were relative strangers just 4 1/2 years ago. We've been blessed to be able to sit in a class and cry, laugh, and pray with each other. To know that if someone called in need, one of use would go without asking any questions. To come up with a "Sunday lunch crew" who, when we haven't been able to go out for a while, all jumped at the chance to go today and squeeze around a small table just to get to spend time together. To know that God has touched the heart of 3 very special men, and we know that no matter which was is teaching any given Sunday, the word will be brought to us! To know our life as "pew sitters" ended, and our life as "pew fillers" is just beginning.

Lastly, when we sit at home and talk about our blessings..you, our friends are among the richest and greatest blessings that God has given us! You know that one, or all of us may be gripey when our blood sugar gets low. You know that Donnie will ALWAYS have something to share in Sunday school, and that I will usually fumble up the announcement for the next social event. You know that I'm OCD, and Donnie is laid back, but you love us just the same! You know who you are....and you know, you are LOVED!

So I have become a bad blogger! Not only do I not keep people up to date on GREAT savings, but I've failed in writing down tidbits of our daily life! To say that life has been crazy is a MAJOR understatement. I have no idea where the time has gone between the last post about Pillsbury crescent rolls, and this one, but just deal with it...ha.

I just hopped on here really quick to say thank you to everyone who has come to a coupon class lately. I took about a month off, and never realized how rusty I had become. Slowly I'm getting in the grove again, and I'm ready to schedule more classes so that I can spread the word on what coupons can do for you.

Oh, and vistaprint-www.vistaprint.com is offering one of their "free for 4 days only" offers. They have postcards, t-shirts, pens, hats, and much more on their list, and all it will cost you is the price of shipping it to your home!

Savings at Target

Hi all!

Thanks to Angela Norton, I just got a message that at the Target at 240/Poplar the Pillsbury cinnamon rolls are on price cut for $.97, and the crescent rolls are on price cut for $.93. If you go to www.coupons.com , you will be able to download and print coupons for $1.00 off of two Cinnamon Rolls, and $.50 off two crescent rolls. Angela also said that there are peelies on some of the packages for an additional $.55 off three! Stack these together with a coupon for $.50 off one from the general mills insert from a few Sundays ago (sorry I don’t have the date) and you will score a great deal on cinnamon AND crescent rolls! Even if you don’t have the $.50 off of one, you will still get a great deal! ***Thanks Angela!****

Another thing I noticed when we were in Target yesterday was that in the back right corner of the store they are carrying things in bulk like Sams and Costco. I got pretty excited when I saw that the big things of toilet paper were priced exactly as they are in the warehouse stores! The reason I got so excited??? At Target you can use manufacturer and store coupons to make the deal better! I’m still working on the price per roll, but so far if you have a $2.00 off Northern Tissue and buy the large package, you are spending less than if you bought it at Costco! Watch the blog for price comparison once I get it all figured out!

"If it were up to me"

So, yeah, it's been a while since I've blogged. Sorry to be such a bad blogger, and slacker when it comes to posting great deals. Thanksgiving hit, and from then until now we have been on the go, go, go! I had originally planned on getting here to talk about some great deals I've been getting lately, but that can wait until tomorrow. Today I want to just blog about something that is so near and dear to my heart...and I'm going to title it "If it were up to me."

If it were up to me.....

* I would have buckled down when I was at MTSU and finished college in 4 years, with my parents paying for everything. As it turned out, I liked to play, so I ended up in Memphis, and well to say it took longer than four years, and that I've had to pay for it all, would be an understatement. However, if I had never left MTSU would I have met Donnie, experienced life over the past 17 years, and learned all the life lessons that I have? Probably not, so I guess that why it's not up to me.

* I would have told my brother in law Brent that I loved him more often before he died. He was like an aggravating big brother (even though he was younger than me) always telling me what to do, and what "would be a good idea." The one thing I know is that he loved my sister with all his heart, and if he could have lived on love alone, he would still be with us today. Who knew when he went to Iraq we would never get to see him alive again, who knew? I guess, that's why it's not up to me.

* Heck, for that matter, if it was up to me, Brent would still be alive, and he and Amy would have a house somewhere (I'm sure not Memphis) and they would have kids, and Maddey and Penny, and life would be great. But that wasn't God's plan, and it wasn't in His time, so that's why I guess, it's not up to me.

* I would have met Donnie 5 years before I did, so that this year we would be celebrating 10 years of marriage together instead of 5. As it was, we did only meet 6 years ago, but those have been some of the best, and hardest 6 years of my life. It wasn't in God's timing for us to meet before we did, and there was nothing I could do to change, so that's why I guess, it's not up to me.

* We would not only be celebrating 5 years of marriage, but we would have a 4 year old and a 2 year old....and I would have never had to jump on this ride called infertility. His ways are not my ways, so I guess that's why, it's not up to me.

* Even if we didn't have a 4 and 2 year old, we would have had at least one biological child, instead of years and years of endless test, empty promises, and broken hearts. I guess that's why, it's not up to me.

* We would have been chosen out of the waiting pool of parents just a few weeks after we put our information out there for adoption. Instead it's been six months, and the only thing we hear is a monthly update (if the social worker remembers) that goes out to all waiting families. I guess that's why, it's not up to me.

* My Nana and Grandaddy would still be alive. There are days I just miss my Nana. I long to hear her voice on the phone, and though it was annoying, her asking about Donnie first, and then me. Grandaddy would have liked Donnie, I just know it. I wish they could have met, and then Donnie would know where my dad and Uncle Bobby get their true "Mullins spirit" from....ha. I guess that's why, it's not up to me.

* People would understand loss, and death when it happens to a young married couple. I watched as the church as a whole didn't know what to do with my sister because she was 25 and newly widowed. Widows were old ladies, not young women....or so they thought. So instead of ministering to her, they left her alone and would talk to my parents and grandparents. True, they had lost a son in law, but she lost her HUSBAND. If someone would've reached out would things have been different? I don't know...and I guess that's why, it's not up to me.

* People would understand infertility. Pretending that we haven't gone through a struggle, or asking my Mom how I'm doing, while pretending I don't exist doesn't cut it. Yes, it hurts. Yes, some days you want to scream. Yes, hosting, co-hosting, or attending 18 baby showers within 12 months felt like my world was crashing in, but just ask ME. The one who is going through it. Guess what? I'm not fragile, and I'm not going to fall apart on you. But acknowledging that something is going on, goes a lot further than tiptoeing around it. Some days I want to scream "Don't gripe about your kids, don't tell me that we don't understand chaos because we don't have kids, don't take it for granted that you have been able to experience one of the most amazing things on the face of the earth....just don't." But I guess that's why, it's not up to me.

* People would use discretion when talking to a large group of people. Guess what? Not everyone is a parent, and you can bet in a large crowd there is more than one person that is struggling with some type of loss. So to address a crowd as "Parents, Grandparents, Singles and Youth" leaves out a whole dynamic. If I could talk to every speaker in America I would say that one thing....don't assume everyone falls into one of those categories. But I guess that's why, it's not up to me.

* I would let my friends know that yes, it probably seems like Donnie and I would have a lot of free time because we don't have kids, but alas, that's not true. See when you don't have children people actually expect a lot more out of you. We get asked to run to the grocery store for my Pops, or run a quick errand for Mimi, or help out with this event or that....because, "you have the time." When asked recently in a class how we manage to set aside time for us to spend alone, almost everyone in there said "because they don't have kids," and the flesh in me wanted to scream back "not by choice." However, I just smiled and let Donnie answer. I guess that's why, it's not up to me.

* I would understand why God gives us challenges. I would understand why He let's certain things happen to some people and not to others. I would make sure that everyone I know experiences blessings from God in only a way that He can bless us. I would make sure that I never hurt anyone by saying, or doing the wrong thing. I would love, listen, and encourage more, and talk less. But I KNOW that's why, it's not up to me.

Isaiah 55:6-10

6 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.

7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God,

for he will freely pardon.

8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,"

declares the LORD.

9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

6pm.com sale

Most of you know how in love I am with 6pm.com. Well, today they have Cole Haan shoes on sale. When I say sale, I really mean SALE. I saw some shoes that were regularly 325.00, marked down to $92.00. Still a little steep for me, but they did have some really good prices. If you are not familiar with 6pm, they have a "shoe of the day" that's on sale, and they also have flat rate shipping (which is awesome!) I've heard through the grapevine that Ugg's, and Yellow box will be on sale in the next few weeks. If you like either of these brands of shoes, you may want to check out www. 6pm.com to see what you can find!

How we met

1. Where/how did you meet: We met at the Tap Room on Beale Street. The story is long, so I will shorten it by saying I went out with a friend of mine, and we went to meet another friend and give him a baby present (had just had a daughter). When we walked into his place of employment, Donnie was carding at the door, and gave me a hard time because I didn't want to be carded. Later I found out he didn't work there, and was helping out while the other guy was in the restroom. He ended up sitting down by my friend and I, and at first he hit on my friend...when that didn't work he moved on to me, and the rest is history! I guess 2nd place really isn't the first loser! :) He asked me out for the next night, and we've been inseparable ever since

2. How long have you known each other: Since March 20, 2004!

3. How long after you met did you start dating: The next night? I don't know how to explain it, but we loved spending time together, so whenever Donnie was home in between trips for work we would go out and spend as much time together as possible.

4. How long did you date before you were engaged: six months

5. How long was your engagement: Six and a half months (really almost seven)

6. How long have you been married: 4 years, 6 months, and 8 days (not that I keep track!)

7. What is your anniversary: May 14, 2005

8. How many people came to your wedding reception: Well, one day when I was bored I counted all the signatures in my sign in book for the wedding, and there were 189 people that signed in!

9. What kind of cake did you serve: The wedding cake as fabulous (as all Carla Beard cakes are) it was vanilla cake and white icing. The grooms cake was chocolate cake with chocolate icing and little chocolate guitars from Dinstuhls..yum!

10. Where was your wedding: At my home church, Ridgeway Baptist.

11. What did you serve for your meal: We didn't have a meal, which threw the northern people off, but we did have heavy appetizers. Chicken fingers, grilled chicken, veggies, fruit, etc. (Don't want to talk to much about the catering because it was awful...)

12. How many people were there in your bridal party: 7 bridesmaids, 6 groomsmen, 2 ushers, 2 flower girls, 1 ring bearer, and 3 jr. bridesmaid....so what?? I wanted a big wedding!

13. Are you still friends with them all: Yes, though we don’t keep in touch as well as we should.

14. Did you or your spouse cry during the ceremony: Surprisingly-no.

15. Most special moment of your wedding day: Obviously saying "I do" was pretty memorable, but also the fact that I was able to involve my family in the wedding. My Uncle Bobby was the minister that married us, and to have someone that knows you that well be the one to lead you in to one of the biggest moments of your life is pretty special!

16. Any funny moments: I got married in the year of the "runaway bride." Need I say more?

17. Any big disasters: Not really. The church AC wasn't on when we got there so it was pretty warm, but nothing big!

18. Where did you go on your honeymoon: Chicago, IL. What a wonderful trip! We stayed at the Palmer House Hotel in downtown Chicago, in a suite, for free, for a whole week. Donnie brought me breakfast in bed every day, and then we would get ready and go tour the city. What an awesome time! Donnie also knew how much of a "country girl" he had married when we got to our suite, and he flung open the door and I kept yelling "Get Out...look how big this is....Get Out!" He just kept laughing and laughing.

19. How long were you gone: 7 days-then we came home and my parents moved me into Donnie's apartment. They left me there with all these presents, and a "strange boy." I cried and cried....ha. Donnie probably was wondering what he had done by marrying me.

20. If you were to do your wedding over, what would you change: I don't think I would change a thing!

21. What side of the bed do you sleep on: If you are looking at our bed, I sleep on the left. I hate being by the door!

22. What size is your bed: Queen

23. Greatest strength as a couple: Without a doubt, it has to be the fact that Donnie is my best friend. He's the first person I want to tell anything too, and the last person I want to talk to at night! We've also always had the motto "don't go to bed angry" so we always work out our differences before turning in for the night!

24. Greatest challenge as a couple: Infertility! It has been a long and winding road, and God has had to wrap His loving arms around us many times in the dark of night when the road seemed endless, cold, and with no direction.

25. Who literally pays the bills: We both do.

26. What is your song: I have no idea. We both sing praise songs all the time, and I know for a long time we thought the theme song to Shrek 2 was our song, but sadly I can't remember that anymore.

28. Describe your wedding dress: Totally me! Plain white with lots of embroidery around the top and on the train. I did not want flashy!

29. What kind of flowers did you have at your wedding: Spring flowers

30. Are your wedding bands engraved? No, but I keep telling Donnie I want to get his engraved, but he never takes it off!